New Brunswick contractor Lloyd Spencer
made the leap into purchasing a new Tigercat buncher—despite the uncertain
times in the forest industry—and hasn’t looked back since.

By George Fullerton

Lloyd Spencer
(right) with son Joey and their Tigercat 860 buncher

Steep
increases in fuel and insurance coverage for equipment are just a couple
of the challenges that have had a major impact on harvesting contractors
across the Atlantic region in the past year. Depressed markets in the
lumber and pulp and paper businesses continue to push companies to reduce
costs. That translates to harvest contractors being increasingly pressured
to work longer, harder and smarter to produce more wood for less pay.

In such challenging economic times, it
takes long and thoughtful consideration to make major investments in new
equipment. Lloyd Spencer, a harvest contractor from Chipman, New
Brunswick, took a long hard look at the economic situation and had more
than a couple of long talks with his J D Irving logging supervisors—as
well as his crew—before he saw the banker and traded in his old Timbco for
a new Tigercat 860 feller buncher harvester.

Spencer started harvesting in 1998 after
he purchased the Timbco harvester equipped with a Quadco buncher head.
Formerly, Lloyd had been operating skidders on J D Irving’s Chipman
District operations in south-central New Brunswick. After four years of
tough service in the bush, the Timbco was showing its scars and Spencer
knew he was facing the decision to purchase a new harvester or face major
reliability problems with the older machine. “We had a bad noise in the
final drives and rebuilds were not fixing the problem,” he explains. “I
was concerned that we would soon be facing a big repair bill on the drive
system.“

Spencer carefully weighed his options and
made the move to a new machine that would provide greater reliability and
increased productivity. And it looks to be paying off. Spencer says that
his choice of the Tigercat came in part as the result of a visit to the
Tigercat factory in Paris, Ontario in the late 1990s. “We were looking at
different machines. We visited the Tigercat factory and I was really
impressed with the way they built their machines. They are built strong
and you can service them easily.” As it turned out, however, he went with
the Timbco for his first harvester.

Besides the robust
construction, power and stability, Lloyd Spencer also admires the
Tiger 860 for its 300-gallon fuel capacity, which will run the
machine for more than 24 hours. “With road cutting, we might be
doing a road three miles long, so we don’t want to walk the machine
back out the road every shift to fuel.”

Spencer’s Tigercat 860 was manufactured
in 2000 and was sitting at a Quebec dealership before the Strongco
dealership in Moncton brought it in for him. The 860 turns out to be the
biggest Tigercat harvester application currently in the Atlantic Canada
region. “The Tigercat appeared to have the capacity to handle the kind of
work that Irving had for us. We figured that the Tigercat design would
work in the terrain that we have in Chipman District. “It is generally
flat terrain, so the levelling option was not necessary. We do a lot of
road cutting and clearcutting operations and tail swing is not a concern
there. We also do some thinning and hardwood partial cuts and we found
that we can do a good job there, as well. You just have to plan your leave
trees and make sure you can work without hitting them. This machine has a
longer track base and a counter-balance and that makes for a more stable
operating base.”

While the Timbco delivered good
performance, its shorter tracks and zero tail swing meant the harvester
had a tendency to rock and teeter, and the operator had to compensate for
that when cutting trees. “The Tigercat is heavier and a lot more stable on
its feet, and the operator is more confident that the head is going where
it is aimed. That in itself makes the operator a little more efficient,
and today the little bits are what it is all about as far as production
goes.”

The machine has an 8.3-litre Cummins
engine rated at 260 horsepower. Spencer said he was satisfied with the
power the Cummins provided, but was concerned about fuel efficiency and
that the engine was also using some oil. During spring shutdown, Strongco
technicians were going over the machine and suggested that the engine
speed be turned down to reduce fuel consumption and hopefully correct the
oil consumption problem.

However, with the rpm turned down to
2,100, the engine anti-stall feature was thrown out of whack, causing the
engine to lug under load. Spencer says he and his operators struggled with
the problem and worked with Strongco and eventually the engine was turned
back to 2,351 rpm and the anti-stall, again, worked fine. Spencer runs the
harvester with two other operators, his youngest son Joey and Uwe Hensler.
Hensler and Joey take nine-hour shifts and Lloyd fills in the day with a
six-hour shift.

“We were running three eight-hour shifts,
but that made it hard for me to handle other work that has to be done.
Then the operators felt they wanted to work a little longer so we went to
10 and 10 and four. That gave me a short shift to handle other work, but I
felt that the operator’s production suffered at the tail-end of their
shifts. So we went to nine, nine and six and we are doing pretty good.
Sometimes in the winter, if the boys want a day off, I will hire other
operators to fill in. For now, this shift pattern works best for us.” The
fourth crew member is Lloyd’s wife Deanna, who handles all the payroll and
accounts for the business. In addition to the important pay master
function, Deanna also has a good understanding of machine production,
providing statistics on number of trees cut per minute, hour and shift.

In addition to robust construction, power
and stability, Lloyd also admires the 860 for many other attributes,
including the 300 gallon fuel capacity, which will run the machine for
more than 24 hours. “Fuel capacity is important when we are road cutting.
We might be doing a road three miles long, so we don’t want to walk the
machine back out the road every shift to fuel. This machine also has room
to store a couple of pails of oil, a big tool box, a nice place to store
spare hoses and a couple of fuel filters. It’s nice to have those things
with you if you have a little trouble. That way, you aren’t running back
out to the trailer for supplies.” Joey Spencer says that the Tigercat has
notable power and lift capacity advantages over the previous harvester.

The biggest advantage he sees is in its
lifting capacity. “At full extension, the booms still have some angle and
it will lift a big load. With the Timbco, the booms were straight at full
extension so we had to drag the tree in toward the harvester before you
could lift it.” With 14,000 pounds of lift capacity and more than 60,000
lbf of tractive force, the Tigercat is strong. Joey also notes that the
Tigercat is stable and has good swing power and counter balancing that
allow for a smoother ride. He also credits Tigercat for a comfortable and
quiet cab and good lighting. “The Tigercat came with a real good lighting
system that allows the operator to see all around the machine.

The gull wing engine hoods allow great
access to the engine compartment and it makes a stable well-lit work
platform for service work,” says Joey. He cautions that the big machine is
not as agile as the lighter and more compact Timbco, so there was a
learning curve with the machine and they had to watch to stay out of
trouble. “The tracks are longer and wider and the machine is a lot
heavier, so it is not quite as maneuverable.” Joey says that part of
running the Tigercat involved avoiding some of the same physical positions
the Timbco worked in. When Spencer bought the Tigercat, he opted to keep
his original Quadco hot saw head. “It has been very reliable. We have
rebuilt the saw motor, but we have never had to replace it. We have done
cylinder and bushing work on the head and we have welded and gusseted all
the weak points and we are pretty happy with it. It is still working
really well.”

Spencer credits his operators and their
particular mechanical talents for helping him to operate a successful
business. “Uwe is a real good welder, and he can fix breaks up right and
fast. Joey knows electronics and he fixes little snags that would have
lots of people stumped. Having that kind of help is real important in
keeping things running.” Lloyd was watching as Joey began his shift at 3
pm on a warm, black fly-filled, June afternoon, tackling a stand of spruce
and mixed hardwoods. “Joey is a good operator. Notice, he never backs up.
When I’m operating, sometimes I find myself backing up to reach a tree or
a pile. When I hear three beeps out of the back-up alarm, I figure I’ve
gone too far. “You only make money with a buncher when you’re going ahead.
I tell them, I don’t like to hear that back-up alarm!”

Watching and listening to the growl of
the Tigercat as Joey piles up stems, it is apparent that he is going in
the precise direction that he has been trained to go, and at a right good
clip as well. With a serious nod of approval, Lloyd heads out of the woods
and home for supper saying: “It’s a real tough business. If you are going
to stay in the harvesting business, you’ve got to be going ahead all the
time.”